Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources

1
WISER Social SciencesResearching
International Development

• Sue Pemberton Former Subject Consultant for
  International Development

2
Researching International Development

• Aim of this session is to enable the
  non-specialist to find information on
  international development issues including
• Material on OLIS
• Appropriate databases for finding journal
  articles and research papers
• Statistical information
• Quality free Internet resources

3
Researching International Development

• What do we mean by International Development?
• Which libraries cover it?
• Finding material on OLIS
• Databases for International Development
• Statistical Information
• Quality free Internet resources
• How to find out more

4
What do we mean by International Development?

• Economics, politics, sociology and recent history
  of developing countries in the broadest sense
• Developing countries generally defined as
  countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America
• International development is a multi- and inter-
  disciplinary subject

5
Where can I find International Development
material in Oxford?

• Social Science Library has the largest collection
• Supports the teaching and research of the
  Department of International Development
• Holds legal deposit material in the subject area
• Has an extensive collection of Discussion and
  Working papers from institutions concerned with
  International Development
• Has an extensive collection of international
  social and financial statistical series

6
Where can I find International Development
material in Oxford?

• Subject-based libraries
• Radcliffe Science Library agriculture, medicine
• Refugee Studies Centre Library forced migration
• School of Geography and the Environment Library -
  general information about Developing Countries,
  natural resources, environmental studies.
• Social and cultural Anthropology (Tylor) Library
  social anthropology
• Balfour Library (Pitt Rivers Museum)
  ethnography, anthropology

7
Where can I find International Development
material in Oxford?

• Area-based libraries
• Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African
  Studies at Rhodes House sub-Saharan Africa
• Indian Institute Library South Asia, Tibet,
  Himalayas
• Latin American Centre Library Latin America
• Information about these and other libraries can
  be found at http//www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/libraries/

8
Finding International Development on OLIS

• Key subject headings
• Developing countries
• Economic development ( country)
• Country economic conditions
• Country politics and government
• Country social conditions
• Economic assistance ( country)

9
Databases on OxLIP for International Development

• CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) includes
  Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
• IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social
  Sciences)
• EconLit
• Social Science Citation Index (Web of Knowledge)

10
Full text OxLIP resources

• United Nations University Press publications
• World Development Reports (World Bank)
• Oxford Scholarship Online Oxford University
  Press titles, sections for Economics Finance
  and Political Science
• Oxford Reference Online, xreferplus Collections
  of reference books, useful for basic facts on a
  country, political regime etc
• Forced Migration Online

11
Statistics for International Development on OxLIP

• ESDS International (Economic and Social Data
  Service)
• Requires an ATHENS password even when used in
  Oxford
• Also requires you to go through a registration
  procedure the first time that you use it.

12
Statistics for International Development on OxLIP

• ESDS International includes
• IMF statistics
• OECD statistics
• UN Common Database
• World Bank Development Indicators
• World Bank Global Development Finance
• ESDS provides online guides to all databases, see
  under User Support
• Also provides excellent Guide to freely available
  international data resources, see under Access
  data http//www.esds.ac.uk/International/access/gu
  ide.asp

13
Freely available Internet resources

• Eldis Gateway to Development Information
• http//www.eldis.org/
• Hosted by the Institute of Development Studies
• Over 15,000 full text articles and research
  papers
• Subject and country resource guides
• Sign up for email bulletins
• Links to over 4,500 organisations

14
Freely available internet resources

• British Library for Development Studies
• http//blds.ids.ac.uk/blds/
• Search the catalogue of Europes largest research
  collection for Development
• Includes resource guides and country profiles
• Can combine search for printed material with full
  text papers on Eldis
• Provides links to freely available internet
  resources

15
Freely available internet resources

• Academic/research sites - examples
• Global Development Network http//www.gdnet.org/
• African Studies Centre, Leiden
• http//www.ascleiden.nl/library/
• Government sites - examples
• Department for International Development
  http//www.dfid.gov.uk/

16
Freely available internet resources

• International organisations - examples
• World Bank http//www.worldbank.org/
• United Nations http//www.un.org/english/
• United Nations Development Program
  http//www.undp.org/
• OneWorld.net http//www.oneworld.net/
• Charities - examples
• Oxfam (Try link to Oxfam International)
  http//www.oxfam.org/en
• Tearfund http//www.tearfund.org/
• Remember, all these sites will have their own
  agendas!

17
How to find out more

• Try the RDN Virtual Tutorial for Development,
  http//www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/tutorial/development
• Learn more about using the Internet in general
• Collect a basket of useful links
• Explore some of the sources and sites mentioned
  in this presentation
• Ask Library staff. Subject Consultant for
  International Development Mark Janes,
  mark.janes_at_ssl.ox.ac.uk